Category Archives: Cookyn with Mervyn

DRYPERS EVENT @ COOKYN INC

24 April 2012 9 comments

I was delighted to be invited to a Drypers event, held at Cookyn Inc, my fave cooking party house :P The focus was on cooking healthy food which work both for young kids and also pregnant mums. I love planning and cooking Hunter’s meals, so I was especially interested in the event, and even more so when I heard it featured salmon, one of his favourite foods!

I have never seen SO many pregnant women under one roof before ;) Guess this really is a bumper year for Dragon babies. Hunter was the only kid there and so was all smiles with the attention he received.

Fabulous local 'pulled' tea that is perfection at Cookyn

The various ingredients we would be using

We made a beautifully simple and fresh hummus dip with toasted pita. It was very baby friendly and Hunter could munch on the chips as well as the hummus. It was quite the hit and made me realise that this is great to serve when we have friends over, because it’s simple to whip up and oh-so-addictive!

The secret in the AWESOME chips? Use fresh (ie. soft) pita bread, cut into triangles, and bake in the oven for a bit. They come out crisp and they taste so good, better than the Doritos that we normally use when we eat dips.

Hummus dip with toasted pita

Hunter signing "more please", cos he liked it too!

We also put together a wild rice salad. Honestly, it was pretty good! I NEVER thought I’d enjoy eating wild rice, let alone a wild rice salad.. But I liked the flavours of the ingredients and it was actually really tasty. It’d be a brilliant idea to make up a batch of this and store in the fridge (to let the flavours really permeate) and have it as a healthy lunch when you’re in the office.

Full concentration required!

Wild rice salad with grilled tiger prawn

Really into the whole drawing business now

And…. the Parcel-wrapped salmon! OH HOW I LOVE THIS DISH!!! Will do it every time we buy salmon now. It works for both adults and babies, because the salmon is utterly soft. It’s also laughingly simple to make: Get a slab of salmon and plonk it on unwaxed parchment (baking) paper. Pop in some diced cherry tomatoes and whatever diced veggies you want (I put in asparagus, zucchini, carrots), sprinkle on salt & pepper, and add in a small pat of butter. Wrap it all up like a bag, and pour in a tablespoon of chicken stock just before you seal and fold over the bag shut. Bake at 210 celcius for 11-12 minutes.

You will find the salmon so so so soft and moist, kind of like a poached salmon, but with a lot more flavour because it’s been cooked in with the rest of the ingredients. It’s LUSCIOUS :) Hunter totally noms it up, and so do we.

Happy little goody bags

Parcel-wrapped salmon

I’m normally not a fruit/berry person and would NEVER order trifle at a restaurant, but I’m a fan of Cookyn’s Summer berry trifle. It’s pureed strawberries, chunks of soft Sara Lee butter cake, vanilla bean-spiked fresh cream, and topped with blueberries. And it’s just so tasty!

Summer berries trifle

Mums and mums-to-be!

Hunter, very pleased with his food-clip thingy

All smiles :) And isn't that goody bag cute??

Karen Happy Ong liked this post

A FOOD EXTRAVAGANZA WITH GREENGROCER AND COOKYN INC!

20 December 2011 12 comments

Cookyn Inc and Greengrocer threw a big bash over the weekend, where Greengrocer provided all the ingredients, and the Cookyn team whipped it all up into a stunning explosion of delicious food.

And stunning it was. ALL 21 COURSES.

Yep, you heard me! The portions were small, but since we then proceeded to eat multiples of each, the 21 different foods reaaallllyyy added up. Not to mention the wine tasting that accompanied the food. We were staggering around a bit by the end (from being full, that is!) ;)

The Cookyn team really outdid themselves, and they’d spent the entire day before slaving away in the kitchen to prepare all the food. Can you imagine the mammoth task of throwing a party and cooking up 21 courses?? And ALL of them beautifully presented to boot. I felt really tired just thinking about it ;)

Greengrocer provided all the fabulous ingredients

Chef Mervyn introducing the concept to us

So these mini cones and tartlets are the CUTEST, and something I’m thinking of doing for Hunter’s first birthday party :) They come in a variety of flavours and you can stuff em with bits and bobs of food and voila! Instant canapes. Too easy.

Just 2 of the 6 types of cones we had. My two fave were the Smoked salmon, roe, creme fraiche chives in pesto cone.. and the Lobster, Japanese mayo, chives in sesame cone

Hummus in savory shell, Sundried tomatoes in curry shell, Parma ham with pesto shell

Goose rillet

With the Hostess Extraordinaire!! Otherwise known as my favourite cousin :)

Salami and chorizo salad

Yummy salts. I took home the garlic one. It's fab :)

Appetizers=eaten. WHERE ARE THE MAINS??

I didn’t pace myself very well, and because I was hungry, I went…. errrr…. a little bananas with the appetizers and ate perhaps 15 of those cones/tartlets. They were really good okay!! I soon regretted it though.. when my logical brain kicked in and said “HELLOOOO BEVERLY?? You’re only 1/3 of the way through! PUT THE FOOD DOWN”. And sure enough, came another storm of dishes.. this time all the mains.

Carrot soup with dried parma ham,Crab bisque with focaccia

OMG must stop here so everyone can also stop and appreciate this below. This thing of beauty and perfection. Otherwise known as Foie gras in savory tomato shell. These lil babies had me in conniptions. Big slabs of foie gras grilled, then chopped and stuffed into these lil shells and with some sort of sauce (creme fraiche maybe? aioli?). ARRRGHHH THEY WERE GOOD. And addictive. Ate 10 of these little tartlets alone (I counted, cos I was feeling a bit guilty that I was standing there stuffing ‘em into my mouth as fast as I could). Then I snuck into their preparation area (heh heh heh) and spotted a tray of just the foie gras. So then I stood there nonchalantly and merrily popping in the foie gras chunks into my mouth, like chips or something :P Boy they were yummy!!!! I was a very happy girl.

Foie gras in savory tomato shell

Assorted pasta, and at the bottom is truffled gnocchi

Oh, and this Sous vide turkey with cranberry and special salt also had me very happy. Thing is, I DON’T like turkey – the flavour is boring, and it almost always is dry and just blah. But this was so so so moist and tender and wonderful, it was like it wasn’t even turkey?? Hard to explain. I only managed to stuff 2 of these suckers down though… was starting to get a tad full :X

Sous vide turkey with cranberry and special salt

Goose with confit of veg

OH MY I was so pleased to see the Lamb rack with rosemary come out! I love lamb. Especially when it’s roasted so beautifully, and comes in small little chunks that I can pop into my mouth and continue chatting. So tender, with the beautiful smell of rosemary. Bliss.

Lamb rack with rosemary

Aiiiieeeee the Wagyu meat balls with bechamel finally arrived!! Was so eager for these because I love meatballs anyway, and HELLO these are wagyu! And check out how adorably they’re presented. I managed to sneak 4 of these yummy meatballs… which I later regretted because it was incredibly GREEDY of me as there were none left afterwards, and I wonder if anyone missed out on getting a meatball cos I stood there quickly scoffing ‘em :( Hopefully everyone got at least one!

Wagyu meat balls with bechamel

I really enjoyed the Scallops and prawns on focaccia too, particularly because the scallops were huge and plump and juicy. Only problem was that I was kinda full and the focaccia really filled me up.. but now I feel like more :P

Scallops and prawns on focaccia

HULLO MR WINE GUY

And then it was…. DESSERT TIME :) Mini cones made another appearance, but this time laced with chocolate. They were so adorable, perfect for a kiddy party / Hunter’s first birthday party! And, well, really yummy. Can’t quite go wrong with desserts, can you?

*heart skips a beat*

GET IN MAH BELLY!!!!!

Mini ice cream cones. Cute much?

Chocolate mousse tart

Oh happiness.

My pretty gold hoops from Ickleoriental, with swarovski gems threaded on! Love how they make the simple hoops suddenly more *bling*

So that was it. Lots and lots and lots and LOTS of food. Our bellies were nice and full afterwards, and I looked rather pregnant but oh well. I wore my comfy shorts and t-shirt in preparation, so it’s all good ;)

We had a fab time, and it was really fun to sample all the food that Greengrocer have to offer, and witness the Cookyn staff in action. Anyway, Cookyn do fun parties as well that you can attend, or book out an entire session to host your own party. Check em out at http://www.cookyn-inc.com

A FRENCH COOKYN PARTY

15 October 2011 2 comments

We booked out a whole session at Cookyn Inc, and decided on the theme French Fete! After all, having French food in a nice restaurant would set you back a pretty penny, so might as well have it at Cookyn where we’re guaranteed the ingredients are the best, we get to cook, and just hang out. Win!

Where (cookyn) magic happens...

This time, we had 2 babies attend the class. I actually found it pretty difficult having Hunter around, because one of us would have to spend time with him and keep him amused. Plus he was feeling pretty overwhelmed with all the banging and clanging and talking and laughter, so he needed extra-special attention and cuddles to keep him calm. Dohhhh.

Ahoy there, Captain Cook!

Babies in a box. Hey, it keeps 'em occupied and safe!

His own box!! What a luxury

Words. Fail. Me.

TWINS :P

Our starter was a DIY challenge, where we were given a couple of ingredients and away we went! We ended up with a sort of Tuna tartare with aioli. I say sort of, because I’m not quite sure what type of random dish we put together here ;) The girls did do a good job of plating it all though – so even though we had an overdose of (large chunked) onions and pickles, at least it looked good! The boys, on the other hand, decided it would be perfectly legitimate to dump the ingredients onto a plate, like a pile of dog food. “Still tastes the same. Good.” they declared. Riiiiight.

How many girls does it take to make aioli? Obviously more than 2, since it went a little weird and un-aioli-like ;)

Did you know that you can get seedless limes? I didn't!

My girl-created beauty VS his boy-created dogfood

The next dish was Roasted duck a la orange with potato confit which turned out to be fairly straightforward, since the main ingredient was duck breast imported from France. It was first browned in a pan, then roasted in the oven. For me, though, I much prefer duck confit than roasted, because I like the whole melt-in-your-mouth type of meat, rather than steak-style. But I adored the tangy-sweet orange sauce!

And that Potato confit you see below on the plate? The potatoes were cooked very slowly in a big pot of olive oil, so they came out melty soft and addictive.. so much so I had to have seconds :P

Chef Mervyn tells us how it's done

Duck breasts all the way from France

Roasted duck a la orange with potato confit

5 boys in a row

The Pasta tossed with shaved foie gras, crushed pinenuts and seaweed was by FAR my favourite dish! Holy smokes it was FANTASTIC. Luscious. Creamy. Decadent. Perfect. It’s a simple concept – just pasta with lots of foie gras mixed into it, and topped with (self pounded, natch!) pinenuts and quality Japanese seaweed. I cheated a little and put extra foie gras into my pasta and stirred it all in, so it was a 50/50 mix between pasta and foie gras.

Arghhhh it was heavenly! I want to eat this every day. A few others thought I was a little gross in eating so much foie gras, but whatever, it was awesome :)

I pound extra-hard. Boom.

Hunter being highly amused with Chris' flintstone expression

Pasta tossed with shaved foie gras, crushed pinenuts and seaweed

Dessert was a no-cooking-required Strawberry Charlotte. I must admit, I generally don’t like fruit-based desserts. Totally contradictory to me because dessert is meant to be sweet and sinful! But, I really liked this Strawberry Charlotte because the strawberries were super-sweet and it had lashings of cream personally whipped up by us and infused with vanilla bean :) So good that I ended up making up a mish-mash version in a spare mixing bowl, and scoffing that one down too. Yum!

Strawberry Charlotte

Life's always good when you're getting cuddles

Teh tarik (pulled tea) freshly made for us :D

Checking out the garden outside. So gorgeous!

Hunter, yet again traumatised when his girl friend screams!

Much better now that he's not within hearing distance ;)

Can you believe he actually fit into my belly, 8 months ago??

The 8 of us stayed on for hours afterwards (oops!) and so took this pic :P

Virtually every person I’ve spoken to in Singapore knows about and/or has attended a Cookyn Inc party before. But in case you’re not in the know, you totally should have your next party or event there. It’s helluva lot more fun (and unique!) than the standard “Let’s do dinner” type of celebrations and at least you know you’ll be fed well ;)

Penny Law liked this post

COOKYN WITH MERVYN’S WINE & CHEESE PARTY

24 June 2011 28 comments

Chris is away in Seattle for 1.5 weeks.. the first time he’s gone on an international business trip since Hunter’s birth and BOY IT HURTS! He misses out on both Father’s Day and Hunter’s 5th month birthday tomorrow. :( I know Hunter especially misses the mad giggles and antics he gets up to with his Dad. Chris comes back (early) on a Monday morning, so we can’t wait :)

Anyway, it’s also a shame that Chris is away because Cookyn Inc threw a Wine and Cheese party, 2 things that Chris particularly loves. And boy, it was fun! We were treated to delicious wines (2 white, 2 red) and of course, lovely food that was thoughtfully paired with each wine. I seriously LOVED the food. Especially the dish with the fresh figs (pics below) – my first time eating fresh figs and now I see why my Mum loves ‘em so much.. they’re tasty!

Their Wine & Cheese parties are a great idea for afternoon tea with friends. I reckon they’d make a fab Bachelorette party, or for a birthday celebration :)

The mecca of foodaholics beckons…

Our sons getting acquainted with each other (and Hunter being decidedly unfriendly!)

Mommies and babies :)

Feta and sundried tomato pesto crumble on crackers

Mozzarella bufala with fresh figs, parma ham, truffle oil and aged balsamic

Chorizo, Saucisson, Iberico ham, coral salad, plum
tomatoes salsa, preserved baby onions and Grissini crackers

Chef Mervyn puts the heat on

Parmiggiano, Brie de meaux, Savarin, Mimolette, Manchego

DIY angry birds cupcake, LOL!!!

OH, and of course all the food was paired with wine..

Patiently waiting for us whilst we wined and dined ;)

Future iPhone addicts

The beautiful garden

FRIDAY FEAST @ COOKYN INC

6 June 2011 30 comments

I was super eager to check out the brand spankin’ new Cookyn Inc premises, and happily, they invited us over for a dinner shortly after we arrived in Singapore :P The new location is set in it’s own standalone house with pretty garden surroundings, so we were surprised to hear that it was in a central area in Singapore. It’s gorgeous! They have 3 large themed kitchens and can host big parties, so I have to keep that in mind when my 30th birthday (ARGH) rocks round later this year.. muahahaha.

We kicked off with Cheese fondue. And because Chris and I are from the boondocks or something, we thought it was the dinner meal itself – as in, lots of food to dip into the cheese fondue as a sort of cocktail party. And so we merrily dunked the home-baked bread (the soft Indian spiced bread was fab!) and assorted meats into the lusciously thick cheese and stuffed ourselves silly.

Then, we spotted 2 plates of food coming out. I was a bit confused, did someone special-order or something?? Then another 2 plates came out. And another 2 plates…

UH OH.

“Ermm.. what’s that?”, I asked.

It’s our main meal, I was told.

D’oh!!!!!

Yes, Chris and I were so silly that we thought our appetizer was the ENTIRE dinner! The main meal was Kurobota pork with hash potatoes and beans.. and a large portion in itself! And here we were stuffed full on cheese fondue. Gah. Of course, that didn’t stop us and we still polished off the delish pork. I normally would never go for a pork steak, as it’s almost always tasteless and tough. But this one was really tender and flavourful, and just lightly breaded. Yum. And then, of course, dessert. Toblerone cheesecake. Light yet cheesy, with a lovely buttery biscuit base. Mmmm!

It’s all part of their Friday Night Feast and I reckon it’s a fab deal ‘cos for SG$55, you get a 3-course meal with delicious food made from quality ingredients. It’s basically “private kitchen” dining, which is all the rage right now and incredible expensive normally. I think it’s quite a cool idea for a bunch of friends to get together and enjoy Friday night, especially those that don’t like cooking, haha!

The Cookyn Inc premises